Spring shade-roller.



C. L. HOPKINS.

SPRING SHADE ROLLER.

APPLIUATION FILED APILBG, 1911.

1,068,054. Pamnted July 22, 1913.

flaw @M I -UNIIIIED STA'ITES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES Ii. HOPKINS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE CURTAINSUPPLY COMPANY, OF- NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SPRING SHADE-ROLLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 26, 1911.

Patented July 732, 1913.

Serial No. 623,485.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Cnannes L. Hornnvs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring Shade-Rollers, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention. relates to an improvement in spring shade-rollers, ofthat class wherein the spindle is provided with a notched hub, and therevolving barrel upon which the shade winds carries a dog adapted toengage the notch in the hub, whereby the shade is caused to bestationary at certain points.

In certain cases, where it is desirable that the roller exert aconstanttendency to wind up the shade, as in street and railway cars, itis customary to employ a roller wherein the hub is provided. with asingle notch, and to place the roller in its brackets with the notchedside of the hub down, so that the dog will tend to fall away from thehub instead of toward it and into the notch. In such a case the purposeof the dog and notch is merely to prevent unwinding oi the spring whilethe roller is out of the brackets. After the roller is placed in thebrackets the dog and notch are useless until it is desired to remove theroller from the brackets.

To effect the removal of the shade and roller from the brackets, the.dog must first be lifted into the notch. Rollers as heretoforeconstructed have commonly been provided with a small hole into which apin or piece of wire of small diameter may be inserted and pushed upagainst the dog to lift it into the notch. This, in some cases, is noteasily accomplished. In the construe tion of cars the spaces providedfor the curtain rollers are often small and ditlicult of access. lurthermore, it is not possible to see the mechanism on the end of theroller when the roller is in position.

In view of the objections and ditliculties just enumerated, it is theobject of the present invention to facilitate the manual manipulation ofthe dog to engage and disengage the same with. respect to the notch inthe spindle, and furthermore to provide for etl'ectually indicating theposition of the dog with respect to the notch, so that it can readily bedetermined when the dog is in a position to be engaged with the notch.

In the drawings Figure 1. is an end view of the roller, with a curtainpartly wound thereon, the dog being shown in the normal position, or outof the notch, in full lines, and in the notch in dotted lines; Fig. 2 atop plan of the same, showing the extreme end of the roller in section;Fig. 5 is a per spective view of the blank for the dog stamped fromsheet metal, and F at is a perspective view of the dog after being bentinto final form.

In these drawings 10 is the barrel of the roller, upon which winds thecurtain 11. The interior mechanism of the roller is well known and,forming no part of the present invention, will. not be described orshown.

12 is the spindle, with its hub 13, provided with the notch 1 1.

The dog 15 is pivoted. to the end or head of the barrel 10 and revolveswith it. In service the roller will be in the position shown, that is,with the hub-notch down, so that the dog will not enter the notch.

When. it is desired to remove the curtain and roller from the bracketsthe dog will first be raised into the notch. This will prevent theroller from rotating and the latter may then be lifted out of thebrackets. To facilitate the lifting of the dog it is formed with theextension 16 which projects out from the end of the roller a sul'licientdistance to make it easily accessible. It is only necessary to put afinger up to the end of the roller, when the projection of the dog maybe found and the dog lifted into the notch.

In addition to forming a handle or finger piece for convenience inmanipulating the dog 15, the part 1.6 constitutes a visible index, inthat the part 16 projects beyond the cylindrical flange on the end 01the roller and is therefore visible. As the notch l-jl is in theunderside of the spindle, the cur tain can be manipulated so as torotate the roller until. it is noticed that the part 16 is below thespindle, which will indicate that the dog is in position to be engagedwith the notch, whereupon the dog may be conveniently liitcd intoengagement with the notch by pressin upwardly upon the part 16. It isthereltore apparent that the part 16 has a two-fold function, viz., ahandle or finger piece and a visible index.

The dog may be cut from apiece of sheet metal in the usual way, and theend 16 bent up. Fig. 3 shows the blank as stamped out, and Fig. at thedog after the end 16 has been bent up.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A shaderoller provided at one end with a cylindrical flange,aspring-tensioned spindle mounted in the roller and projecting at theflanged end thereof. said spindle having a notch disposed Within theflange of the roller and normally lying at the lower side of the spindleWhen the roller is in use, and a dog pivoted to the roller and lyingWithin a visible index to indicate the position of 20 the dog withrespect to the notch.

CHARLES L. HOPKINS.

Witnesses:

E. E. CorrLE, CHAS. F. MURRAY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

